Why you must take ‘next of kin’ slot in official forms seriously

Choose wisely [Photo: Shutterstock]

You must have been shocked when you heard the 2017 story of Omar Mmubango. He died in New Jersey USA but his body was almost unclaimed because no relative turned up to claim him when he died.

Omar, from Mumias, Kakamega County, had been in the USA for over 30 years. But when he died at the Philadelphia University Hospital, no friends or relatives knew of his whereabouts. Omar died of complications arising from cancer and had only listed his daughter, Shassy Mwajuma in Kenya, as his next of kin. That was how Omar got buried in Kenya after the hospital got in touch with her.